Gate of Nightmares
by winona
Summary: R&R- otherwise I'm not going to bother with this anymore...Sailor Karos:Guardian to the Gate of Dreams.Evil has taken over the Gate, and can control people when they fall asleep.It's up to the senshi to stop them, but Karos has been taken!
1. Smooth Introductions

**Chapter One - Smooth Introductions**

It was raining. Again. The only thing that happened in this city was rain. And then it would get humid, and rain again. Daydreams were rampant in the classroom as the water dripped down the outside of the glass windows.

Tayna finished her doodle on her notes and stared out the window. Bored, bored, bored. She glanced at her watch. _One hour left? You've _got_ to be kidding me._ She sighed. _And when are they going to drag me to the office for my pink hair? You'd think they'd notice my head standing out amidst all the boring neutral hair colors here._ Someone knocked on the classroom door. _Finally- my ticket out of here!_ She rested her head on her arms, trying to hide her relief that would come in the form of a note to the office.

Alas, it was not to be.

A skinny, petite girl with short brown hair entered. The teacher smiled reassuringly at her. "Class," she said, "I'd like to introduce a new student…"

Tayna glanced up. _Oh, god- why can't they just leave the poor new kids alone? They always drag them up to the front for public humiliation._ She ignored the introduction and resumed her gaze out the window, not noticing the new girl's cold eyes on her.

* * *

"Yet another new student thrown to the wolves. How tragic." Tayna announced her arrival to the lunch table. Her friends rolled their eyes.

"I still don't understand why they do that." Tayna's best friend and fellow prankster Kyra muttered. She glanced over to the empty table where the new girl had put her stuff down. "She looks kind of lonely."

Tayna followed her friend's gaze. "Yeah, well, she just moved here. Of course she's lonely."

Kyra turned back around. "Actually, I heard she's staying with some friends. I wonder where they are…you'd think they'd introduce her to some people."

The pink-haired girl shrugged. "They're probably not really her friends- just distant relatives the chick got dumped on. You never know what a new, unknown girl can do to your popularity.

"I agree. Still. She looks depressed- do you think we should invite her over?" The bell rang; Kyra sighed. "Never mind. Maybe we'll see her Monday."

* * *

Tayna pumped up her music to full volume, thoroughly relieved to be out of the school and on the road home...well, almost on the road home. She waved to a couple of her friends as they pulled their cars into the line waiting to get out of the parking lot.

Damn hujungous schools. Can't ever get out of the traffic.

Tayna had been half-asleep all day, so it wasn't too surprising to see a person appear in the seat next to her. At least…a sort-of person. More like a fairy sort of…thing.

The girl didn't take her eyes of the road. "I've been expecting you."  
The fairy blinked.  
"And I'll bet you weren't expecting me to expect you, neh?"  
"No, not exactly." The fairy muttered. "But I suppose that's all right. Makes things easier."  
It was Tayna's turn to blink. "Wha-? Usually daydreams don't talk. They always go away when I acknowledge them."  
"Well they won't from now on." The fairy disappeared.  
She shrugged. " I need caffeine." She pulled in to the nearest Starbucks, and five minutes and five bucks later, she was happily on her way home.

Unfortunately, her home wasn't too happy with her. As Tayna walked in the door, tossing her book bag on the fireplace, her mom threw a mug at her.  
"Holy crap, mom!" Tayna ducked, wincing as the ceramic hit the wall with a crash. "I made you that mug in the fourth grade! It was cool!"  
"As cool as you were today when you blew off your cousin?" Her mom snapped.  
Tayna's hand flew to her forehead. "Shoot! I can't believe I forgot that! Is she still here?"  
"No! She's still at the school, waiting for her ride home. I believe that was your job that you volunteered for last week?"  
"I'm sorry! I didn't realize she was coming today! I thought she was going to show up next Friday. Sheesh." Tayna grabbed her purse and keys and ran out the door, shutting it just as another mug came flying.

* * *

Tayna glared at the road. "Shut up." She said as the fairy appeared again.  
"Dude, I didn't say anything."  
"Dude, I didn't know fairies used slang." The girl raised an eyebrow.  
"Oh- the females don't. They think it's tacky."  
Tayna pulled up to a stoplight just as it turned red, sighed, and then turned to get a good look at the fairy occupying her vehicle. It had short, dark green hair, pale blue eyes, and was wearing only a suede loincloth. His wings were not visible at the moment. "My god. You're a guy."  
"Obviously."  
"I didn't know fairies could be guys."  
"Well, now you know."  
"You realize what this means?"  
"Eh?"  
"You're a fairy! HA!" Tayna grinned, and stepped on the gas a few seconds after the light changed green.  
"I fail to see the humor."  
"Just spend a few more days in the real world. You'll get it."  
The fairy shrugged. "Whatever. To business- do you know why I'm here?"  
"Judging by my daydreams? I'm a superhero."  
"You're good."  
"I know. Just clarify what kind I am."  
"A daydreamer."  
"I'm already that." The girl narrowed her eyes. "Hey, you're not just something Kyra or Warner slipped into my drink during lunch, are you? 'Cause if you are, I'm going to kill them."  
"I thought you didn't do drugs."  
"I don't. That's why I'm going to kill my best friends."  
"Don't- I'm not a hallucination." He poked her side. The car swerved, and Tayna reached out with her right hand to grip the fairy by his neck.  
"Listen, Oberon, or whatever the hell your name is- you don't mess with the driver. You have wings- all I have is a seatbelt."  
"Sorry. Now, if your driving lesson is over…" Tayna rolled her eyes, the fairy continued. "My name is Janus." Tayna snorted.  
"What the hell kind of name is that?!"  
The fairy began to glow green. "It's a damn good name! It's Latin for 'gatekeeper,' which is actually quite fitting for my line of work."  
"Oh, god. I've offended a gatekeeper. So what gate do you keep, Oberon?"  
"Janus. I actually don't guard my own, right now. There are only so many gates. However, I've been gate-sitting yours."  
"Goody. So what's my gate?"  
"The gate of dreams."  
"Holy shit."  
"I know. Surprising, neh?" Janus said smugly.  
"No, not really-" they had just pulled in to the school parking lot. "It's my cousin. The new girl."  
"So?"  
"This is probably number 20 on my list of personal hypocrisies."  
"Next to…"  
"Laughing at other people's misfortunes and making fun of punks. Crap! I knew there was something familiar about her!" She parked the car and got out, but leaned through the window. "Hey, Janus, you'd better disappear or something for a while." The fairy crossed his arms over his chest, obviously disappointed that he hadn't been able to shock the girl.

"Um…Sen, I presume?" Tayna jogged towards her cousin. "I am so sorry I didn't recognize you. I feel horrible!"  
The skinny girl shrugged. "It's not like we've seen each other recently. When was the last time- when we were four?" She smiled.  
"Yeah- I guess you're right. Phew- that takes away at least some of the guilt." The two began to walk back to the car. "Of course, it's still my fault for forgetting I needed to pick up my cousin, no matter how unrecognizable."  
Sen opened the car door. "Janus, you're going to have to move to the back seat- I called shotgun hours ago."  
  



	2. Explanations

**Chapter Two - Explanations**

The fairy wrinkled his nose in distaste at the invasion of his space, and reluctantly reappeared in the back seat. Tayna did a double take. "You two know each other?"

"Oh yeah. We go way back." Sen looked out the window, clearly not interested in elaborating.

Tayna glared at Janus in the rear-view mirror. "Explain, Oberon."

"For the last time, I'm Janus- not some cliched fairy king from a Shakespearean daydream."

"But I thought that was your area of expertise." Tayna commented.  
"Shakespeare?"  
"Daydreams."  
"Oh yeah. Well. Speaking of that-" Janus leaned forward in his seat. "Have you heard of Sailor Moon?"

Tayna laughed. "Of course! Jeez…talk about nostalgia. How long ago was it that she and the other senshi disappeared? Ten, fifteen years?"  
"About that much time…well, you know where they're from, right?"  
"I think the rumor was they were from the future or something like that."  
"Exactly right. Well, you're one of the senshi's great-something grandmother."  
"I feel old."

Sen whirled around in her seat. "I don't remember that! How come you never told me?"  
The fairy shrugged. "I was waiting until I got you and your cousin together. Don't ask why I do things the way I do. I'm a fairy." Tayna snorted, Sen giggled, and Janus glared. "So, Oberon, where do you come into play? I didn't know fairies existed in the Sailor Moon world or whatever it's called."  
"It's the Moon Kingdom, and we don't."  
"Don't what?" Sen asked.  
"Please keep up with the conversation, Sen." Janus sighed.

Tayna paused. "Wait. You don't exist? But a while ago you said you did."

"I exist because you have a highly overactive imagination." The fairy explained. The cousins both raised their eyebrows. "All right, I'll make it simple- you, Tayna, are the Guardian of Karos, the gate of the dreamworld. It was created after (and yet before) the problems with the Amazon Quartet trying to steal everybody's dream mirrors."  
"Aren't they good guys now?"  
"Yeah, because they're senshi and the guardians of the younger Sailor Moon." Sen offered.   
"Ah. So does that make me a senshi, too?"  
Janus shook his head. "No. It makes you a senshi in training- but for anyone who asks, you are."  
Tayna grinned. "Oh, I get it. Not showing any weaknesses- that's smart. So where are the original senshi, and you still haven't explained why you're here."  
"The 'original' senshi, as you call them, went back to their own time period. And I was originally here to take you back to your gate, because I'm tired of guarding it from petty dream-thieves. But something has come up."

"Of course."  
"Genealogists in the future have almost completed the family histories, and apparently, there are some more senshi-in-training than just you."

"All right, now you're confusing me." Tayna pulled off the road and parked in front of a playground. She turned around in her seat. "So I'm the great-something grandmother of some senshi?"

"But we don't know who." Janus nodded.  
"Okay…and you're here because there are other senshi besides me? How is that a breakthrough?"  
"Because in the future, we learned of a great evil force that was stopped after the regular senshi had returned home. So we had to find out who defeated this force so we could tell them."

"Uh huh. I think I understand, but when I try to make more sense of it, any trace of my sanity vaporizes." Tayna mused.

Sen smiled. "Oh, that's just because time travel is extremely confusing like that. Look at it this way: you're a sailor senshi, and there are others we need to find so we can vanquish a future enemy. Does that make more sense?"

"Yep. So are you a senshi, too?"  
"No- at least, we don't think so. It's not like there's a blood test we can take or anything."

Tayna sighed. "But you know I'm one."  
"But that's because of Janus. He exists because, as he said, you have a highly overactive imagination. Well basically that means you sort of created him in your imagination."

"So you are just a daydream! Ha!"  
"Not exactly, but we really don't know where he came from, either. We just know that a part of him originated during your time guarding the Gate of Karos because of your frequent daydreams."

"Well how interesting can guarding a freakin' gate be?"  
"My sentiments exactly." Janus snorted.  
"So you say you've been gate-sitting. How did I end up going to high school, living a normal life?"  
"The reincarnation dealie screwed everything up."  
"Yeeeah. I'm not going to ask- there's too much information to process."  
"No need to worry; you won't live long enough for it to matter."  
"Excuse me?" Tayna looked at Janus expectantly, but the fairy just shrugged.  
"Don't look at me."  
"Yeah- look up." Tayna did so, but could only see the roof of her car. "Oh, pull the top down, for crap's sake."  
"Interesting exclamatory. Make it up yourself?" Tayna smirked, and hit the gas, pushing the pedal all the way to the floor. "It's too windy and cold to put the top down!" She yelled at whoever was on top of her car as it sped off through the park. Luckily it was still too early in the day for any of the kids who frequented the place to be out of school.

A hand broke through the glass of the driver's side window and grabbed Tayna by the neck.

"Not…cool…" Tayna growled, and hit the brake pedal abruptly, wincing at the sound of her poor car being mistreated. In a sudden burst of strength, Tayna yanked the person from off the roof of the car and threw her against a nearby slide. She threw the car into park (whispering an apology to her 'baby' for the damage to the brakes), opened the door, and stomped over to the woman who had broken her window. "You touched my car, and for that you must die a slow and painful death." Tayna folded her arms across her chest, waiting for the perpetrator to get up from her seat on the ground.

"I never realized how sturdy playground equipment was…" Sen muttered from her place in the car. When she didn't hear a sarcastic retort, the girl whirled around in her seat to look for Janus, but he had already teleported to Tayna's side. Sen clenched her fists and slumped down in the seat, sighing from her disappointment at not being able to help out.

Meanwhile, the chick on the ground moaned. Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing dark brown eyes. She pushed her deep red hair away from her face, and narrowed her eyes at Tayna. "You bi-"

"Whoa, missy, watch the language in front of the fairy-man." Tayna jerked her thumb in Janus' direction.  
The woman laughed. "You make light of the situation- it will make your death more pleasing to me."  
"And that's just sick. Sick, sick, sick." Tayna clucked her tongue and ran a hand through her recently-dyed pink hair. "So I expect you want a fight, then?"  
"Not really, but it will make things more interesting." The red-head mused.  
"So it's on, then." The girl turned to Janus. "All right, Oberon, how do I win?"  
"That's the easy part- the hard part is learning how to transform."  
"I beg to differ, but I'll have you know I'm not going to wait around for this brat to turn into anything more than a corpse." The red-head stood up- no, floated up, until she was about 6 feet in the air. She cupped her hands together and threw a gigantic ball of black energy towards her opponent.

Tayna screamed and flung herself onto the nearest swing, causing her to fly up and on top of the bar. Struggling to keep her balance, Tayna grinned. "Whoa…that swing's never done that before!"

  
  



	3. A Rose by any Other Name

**Chapter Three - A Rose by Any Other Name...**

Sen was practically bouncing up and down in her seat with anticipation and excitement. "Ooh, oo, oo! Hit 'er, Tayna, hit 'er!"

Tayna slipped, sending her body crashing down to the ground. She grimaced, but stood back up and dusted herself off. "Okay. How do I transform?" She dodged an energy ball as she yelled her question to Janus, who was wringing his hands.

Two more balls came flying at her as she waited for Janus' answer. She jumped out of the way of one and flung herself to the ground to avoid the other. "Dammit, Faerie, how do I transform?!" She screamed. The red-head laughed- it was an annoying laugh. Very annoying.

Sen narrowed her eyes- they were practically glowing green. No wait- they _were_ glowing. Tayna found herself being picked up as if strings were attached to her body, and her clothing began to change. She felt as if a whole new world was becoming open to her- which, of course, it _was_- and she could feel the power in her fingertips. 

Janus bowed, the red-head gaped, Sen got out of the car. "I _can_ do something! I rock!" She cheered.

The enemy shook her head. "No matter. I can still defeat you."  
"I doubt it." Tayna grinned, and the woman suddenly fell to the ground as something hit her upside the head. "I got a _staff_!"

Back in her room, Tayna, Sen, and Janus debated on what to do with the woman they had dragged in with them…or at least, _Janus_ debated.  
"That was pure genius, Sen, the way you handled my mom." Tayna commented, running a hand through her hair.  
"Yeah, well, I figured that passing out from lack of caffeine and too much AP class homework is not such a rare occurrence among your friends."  
Tayna sneered and playfully threw a pillow at her cousin; Janus was practically turning red from anger. "Girls, we need to decide to do with this person."

"I'd say that she needs to be roughly woken up and interrogated under a hot grill-light." Tayna grabbed her lamp. "This should do!" Sen giggled, but immediately stopped after glancing at the very perturbed faerie.  
"So what do _you_ want us to do, Janus?" Sen asked, and he calmed down a bit.  
"I think we need to find a way to keep her from escaping other than just stuffing her into Tayna's walk-in closet."  
"Hey- work with what you've got." Tayna mumbled. Janus continued.  
"And we need to find out who sent her- I have a feeling this has to do with the dark power I was talking about."  
"So you just immediately rule out that she might have _spontaneously_ wanted to kill me?"  
"That doesn't usually happen. I did the research on all of the Sailor Senshi's doings, and I don't believe that there was any spontaneity involved with their battles." Sen rattled off.

"Well now we know who the 'smart one' is." Tayna grinned at her cousin, and a sudden expression of puzzlement appeared on her face. "Um…speaking of Sen, how the heck did you get me to transform?"  
"I don't know- I just got really frustrated with not being able to help you transform, and then all of a sudden I knew what to do. It's hard to explain, but I think I could just _feel_ the 'door' that was blocking all of your powers. So I just opened it." She shrugged. "That's all, really."

Janus was nodding his head. "That's it, then. Sen has to unlock the senshi's powers, so to speak. Now the question is- can she find the other senshi?" Sen was about to answer when a loud banging on the closet door signaled that the red-headed woman had woken up. Tayna threw herself agains the door, trying to hold it closed, but she couldn't keep it that way for long. 

_I wish I had a dead bolt on this thing_. To her surprise, one began to materialize on the door. "Whoa…that's kind of weird."

Janus shrugged, arms folded across his chest. "Overactive imagination. Told you so."

Tayna stuck her tongue out at the faerie. The pounding on the door abruptly stopped. Sen looked up, suspicious.

"Do you think teleportation works in closets?" She wondered aloud. Tayna shrugged, and both girls looked at Janus expectantly.  
"Well, Oberon…?" Tayna asked.  
The faerie bit his lip. "I'm just a creation that was pulled out from the Realm of Karos to give you very _basic_ information. Other than that, I don't know much." Tayna sighed.  
"Figures my imagination would leave out superior intelligence." She clenched her fists. "I say we take a chance and open the door. If she's not there, then we'll know if teleportation works in closets. If she is, we can take the opportunity to question her and/or I can beat her up again."

The faerie shook his head vigorously, but Sen was looking thoughtfully at the closet door. "It's reasonable- what _else_ are we going to do? We've got to open the damned thing at _some_ point."

The faerie stood back a little ways from the doorway as Tayna and Sen opened the deadbolt. As they did so, something in the darkness smiled wickedly…   
  



	4. Time is Money

**Chapter Four - Time is Money...**

The door flew off its hinges, landing on the two girls. Janus' eyes opened wide, and he disappeared in a flash of green smoke. The woman from the closet stepped onto the broken door, red hair wild and emerald eyes glowing. She grinned, and clenched her fists.

Tayna struggled under the weight of the door, trying to keep it from crushing Sen and herself. She tried to turn her head to look at Sen, and managed to catch a glimpse of her cousin, passed out, on the floor next to her. _Damn these thick wooden doors that my mom just _had_ to install during the summer!_ She felt part of the weight on top of the door disappear, and then heard some movement around her room. Tayna pushed up on the door, finding strength from somewhere inside herself. It clattered to the floor in front of her. She set Sen against the wall, and turned to face the woman.

"What the _hell_ are you doing to my room?!" She screamed. The red-head had torn up everything. "Dude, if you're looking for something, just _ask_!" Tayna pushed up the sleeves on her shirt above her elbows and narrowed her eyes.

The woman slowly stood up from her position near Tayna's nightstand and rotated around. She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly cocked her head to one side as if listening to something. She nodded, flipped her red hair behind her shoulder, and disappeared just as Tayna threw herself at the woman. The girl screamed and hit the wall, landing on her bed.

"_Tayna_!! What did I say about playing Extreme Twister in your room?" Her mom yelled up the stairs. Tayna groaned and rubbed her left shoulder.  
"Sorry, mom." She called back, and looked at Sen, who had finally come to and was blinking in the light of the room.  
"What happened?" Sen asked, looking around at the mess the red-head had created.  
"Spring cleaning." Tayna said facetiously. "What the hell do you _think_ happened?"

"She was searching for something." Janus appeared, floating in the air with his arms folded and legs crossed.  
Now it was Sen's turn to be sarcastic. "Ya _think_? Jeez. And where the heck did you go off to when the closet door nearly suffocated us?"  
Tayna sat up on her bed. "Yeah, I don't remember you helping us, Oberon. In fact, I don't remember you even being in the _room_ when I threw off that door!" She reached out and grabbed the faerie by his neck. He flailed his arms around. "Ack! Tayna, I got an urgent call from another Guardian! I believe _her_ plight was a little more important that being stuck under your closet door!" He croaked. Tayna raised an eyebrow.

"I say we lynch him." Sen muttered nonchalantly. Tayna suppressed a smile.  
"Nah, it's too good for 'im." She let of his neck and allowed him to sink to the floor. The pink-haired girl sat down on the edge of her bed, head in her hands. "Which guardian?"  
"None other than the Princess Pluto."

* * *

Sen jogged along the sidewalk with Tayna and a disguised Janus trailing behind her.  
"Are you sure she's going to be there?" Tayna whispered to the faerie.  
"Yes, quite sure. She has nowhere to go at the moment- she's tried to contact the rest of the Outer Senshi, but hasn't been able to reach any of them. And there's no way Pluto will take this to the Moon Princess- she'd rather deal with this before informing her of what's happened."  
"Speaking of that, what _has_ happened?"  
Janus wrung his hands together. "Um…I think I'll let Pluto tell you about that." Tayna rolled her eyes. Sen turned around and ran back to the two, grabbing their hands.  
"I found it!" She let go of Janus and pointed up at a sign. "'The Bonsai Café'. I hear they sell great lattes."  
Tayna squinted at the storefront. "No…nothing is as good as Starbucks."   
Janus looked at her thoughtfully. "You've been brainwashed."  
"So?" Tayna smiled at him, and walked into the café behind Sen. 

* * *

Tayna was startled by the maturity and beauty of Setsuna Meiou. She had not known what to expect, but whatever half-concocted ideas and assumptions were proven wrong when she first got a glimpse of the deep-emerald haired, almost glamorous woman sitting in the corner. Setsuna rose to greet the strange little group, and gave a polite Japanese bow to each one.

Tayna had been holding her hand out in greeting, but when Setsuna bowed, she gracefully reached up and ran it through her hair as if that was what she had been planning to do all along. Awkwardly, the student bowed, and sneaked a peek to see what Janus and Sen were doing.

Sen knew exactly what she was doing. She bowed respectfully to Setsuna, and Janus followed suit.

"Just where and when did you learn Japanese etiquette?" Tayna asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"Japanese 1- language class. Didn't you learn any customs?"  
"…I took Spanish…all I learned about was 'La Dia de los Muertes'." Tayna shrugged and turned back to Setsuna, who was looking ever-so-slightly amused at the exchange. "Hello! I'm Tayna Jacobsen."

Setsuna nodded. "I'm Setsuna Meiou- I actually have known you for thousands of years, but the whole Millenium-Reincarnation deal messed everything up." She grinned.  
Tayna was pleasantly surprised at the older girl's sense of humor. "As much as I would love to sit down with you over a cup of coffee and try to remember the 'old days', I have a feeling that the news which brings you all the way to the States is rather important, and probably depressing. I would like to get on with it." The woman raised an eyebrow, still grinning. "Just as I remember you. Well. Have a seat!" She let Sen, Tayna, and Janus sit before she did in the booth herself. "All right- I'm going to 'cut the crap', as Tayna would say. Basically, the Gate of Dreams has um…fallen…into the _very_ wrong hands. I believe you've met one of their 'messengers': an overconfident red-headed girl who goes by 'Raizel'."

"So _that's_ her name!" Sen exclaimed. Janus gave her a cold look, and she quickly lowered her voice. "We were wondering that for the longest time."

Tayna, meanwhile, was looking thoughtfully at the cup of green tea Setsuna had before herself. "Doesn't that mean 'rose'?" She wondered aloud.  
Setsuna nodded. "Yes- I believe most of her powers and earth-type and based on plants. So cliché." She commented. Tayna grinned, then suddenly dropped her normally optimistic air; the impact of the news had just hit her.

"Oh my god…_my_ gate?" Under the table, Tayna's hands were clenched so hard they began to turn white.  
Setsuna hung her head. "I'm sorry- I don't want to make excuses, but really- one sought-after Gate is hard enough to look after. When _Oberon_ here started flitting away here and there, he got me to look after Karos- which is the other most sought-after gate. I can't be in two places at once- and when I finally showed up at Karos after a premonition I'd had worried me, it was already taken. The only attack I could have used was the-"  
"Forbidden one." Tayna finished for her friend. Setsuna seemed a little embarrassed at her outburst, but Tayna reassured her with the fact that America was a much louder country than Japan. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there to take responsibility for my own Gate, Setsu." The nickname had slipped- one by one little memories were being pulled from the dark recesses of Tayna's mind. She bit her lip, but Setsuna did not seem to have heard her: she was looking at a booth across the room where a young boy had fallen asleep against his sister, who was studying.

He was turning a sickly pale, and sweat was breaking out on his forehead. Tayna and Sen followed her friend's gaze; Janus was buying a latte at the moment. Suddenly the boy sat straight up, his eyes still closed, and began screaming at the top of his lungs. Everybody in the café jumped.

"That scream was _not_ a human one!" Sen pointed out. "What's happened to him?"  
Both Setsuna and Tayna looked at each other, the latter was at a loss for words. "He's…fallen under the…the…"   
  



	5. Foreign Policy

**Chapter Five - Foreign Policy...**

"The gate. He's fallen under the gate." Setsuna whispered, dropping her head into her arms as they rested on the table.  
Tayna clenched her fists. "How do we get him out, and why has he 'fallen under the gate' in the first place?" She demanded of her friend. Setsuna just looked at her, distraught.

"He fell asleep." Sen offered. "Since the gate of Karos was captured, the people who have it are in complete control of everyone's dreams. So whenever you fall asleep, there's no telling what they can do to you once you're in their realm." Her companions gaped.

"How did you _know_ that?" Tayna asked.  
"It's a perfectly logical conclusion, my dear Watson." The girl said sardonically. "As to how you can save the kid…I'm not sure it's possible to wake him up." She frowned, and the group looked over at the boy- who was still screaming. Except this time, something was different, and even more wrong than just an inhuman wailing sound: his eyes were open. And they were glowing a bright red.

As his parents tried to calm him down, the boy lashed out with abnormally long fingernails. His mother screamed and jumped backwards into her husband. Everybody in the café was either backing away from the impish child or had already left the building in a hurry- the employees had already escaped out the back door.

Now the child's entire body was glowing blood red, and he turned around to look at Tayna, grinning maliciously. Sen had sneaked into the corner of the booth behind Setsuna and Janus. Setsuna already had her transformation stick out.

"Pluto Star Power, make up…" She whispered as she stared at the demon, for that was what the boy had turned into. Tayna, on the other hand, did _not_ have any sort of transformation stick or magic words. She looked at Sen, exasperated and desperate.

Her cousin closed her eyes, willing Tayna to see the 'open door' that would lead her to her powers, but she couldn't find it. Sen's eyes shot open. _Where is it? I found it earlier easily enough!_

The daemon threw a ball of dark purple energy at the group- the only people left in the café, and launched itself at Tayna. Sailor Pluto hit the monster in the gut with her staff as she jumped in front of her friend. "Dead scr-"

"NO! Don't hurt him!" Tayna yelled, throwing herself on top of Pluto's staff. Pluto immediately stopped calling upon her powers, and narrowed her eyes.

"What are you doing? He was going to kill you!"  
"He's still a little boy!"  
Sailor Pluto clenched her fists around her staff. Tayna was right- there was no way to find out whether or not destroying the monster would kill the boy unless she tried it- and it was not worth the risk. "What do you expect to do, th- look OUT!"

Tayna whirled around as the daemon hurled itself at her. There was no way to dodge, no time to do so. She held out her right arm, shielding her face with her left, and screamed. She felt the impact of the body hitting her own, and darkness suddenly clouded her mind.

* * *

Tayna could vaguely hear her friends screaming for her, but when she opened her eyes she saw nothing but a ceiling. _Her_ ceiling. She jerked her body upwards, looking around at her…room. The door was still attached to the closet, and her room was still clean.

She glanced at her alarm clock- it was 6:15am. Had it all been a dream? Her cousin, Janus, and Setsuna- all a dream? Tayna wouldn't put it past herself; she'd had extremely vivid hallucinations before and thought they were real. But this couldn't have been a fantasy- it was much too detailed, too real. She could still taste the vanilla frappucino on her lips.

Tayna slid off her bed and quietly opened her bedroom door. Stepping out into the hallway, she shivered as a blast of cold wind hit her with a numbing force. Where was that coming from? Teeth chattering, Tayna plunged head-on into the strong winds in the hallway. The farther she walked, the stronger the wind became. She gripped doorways and walls to use as handholds against the force, but the hallway just kept getting longer. And longer. _What the hell is going on?_

All of a sudden, the wind stopped. The absence of the force caused Tayna to fall forwards, but she didn't hit the carpet: she kept falling into darkness. Screaming, Tayna folded up into a fetal position as she plunged into the black nothing…

* * *

Tayna woke up to the sensation of cold, hard pavement pressing against her body. Her eyes fluttered open, then immediately shut again- tightly- at the sight she had caught a glimpse of. The café was in ruins- it looked like a fire had broken out. But Tayna did not remember anything flammable, or any sparks that might have caused the building to look burned out. Reluctantly, the pink-haired teenager opened her eyes again and forced herself to sit up.

It wasn't just the café that was destroyed: it was the entire city. 


	6. The World as We Know It

**Chapter Six - The World as We Know It...**

"Tayna! _Tayna_!!" Sen screamed, frantically searching under tables in the deserted café.

"Honestly, how much longer is she going to _be_?" Janus muttered, folding his arms across his chest. He was standing out in the street next to Sailor Pluto, who put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Well, it's _been_ two hours. Everybody else has fled the general vicinity- maybe we should follow the panicked population's example."

"Janus."  
It was all the woman needed to say, and even that was barely above a whisper. The faerie sighed. 

"I apologize, Princess. It's just…" Janus paused. "…we'll never find her like this. She's in the _other_ world- and I suspect that the daemon-child is with her." At that, the man clenched his fists. 

"Is that worry I sense, Oberon? How uncharacteristic of you." 

Janus glanced up at Sailor Pluto, but the woman was still gazing at the hysterical Sen, who was still flipping over chairs in the café. If the man didn't know Pluto better, he would have believed nothing had escaped her lips. 

_Tayna, where _are_ you?_

* * *

"My…god…what the hell _happened_ here?" Tayna wondered aloud. 

"Nothing. It's always been like this." The voice echoed throughout the bleak landscape, bouncing off crumbling walls. 

Tayna whirled around, but there was nothing to see. "Wh…what do you mean?" She asked the voice tentatively. 

"One of your fears, isn't it? That the world will be destroyed, and you the only survivor." 

_Raizel?_ It was impossible to tell the gender of the speaker due to the excessive reverberation. 

"No-even such a useful servant as she would not be able to gain access to this place. No, this is not Raizel." 

"Then wh-"

A man appeared not two inches from Tayna's face. An undetectable wind blew his short, pale blonde hair into his face. The man lifted a careless finger, and the wind stopped. At the first good look Tayna got, she had to hide a gasp. The man was beautiful- his face seemed almost perfect, like it was chiseled out of flawless marble. 

"-who?" The end of the question slipped through Tayna's mouth, it being the only thing she could manage. 

"Oren." The man stepped back to take a polite bow. "And you are the Guardian of the Dream World, Princess Karos." 

"And you would know this _how_?"

Oren gently grasped Tayna's hand, and in a smooth motion, he brushed his lips against it. Tayna yanked her hand back. 

"You certainly move quickly." She muttered. 

"I know who you are because- " Oren hesitated. "We'll get to that later. At the present, we must relocate to a more comfortable environment." 

"What if I like this one? It's so personal, it being _my_ nightmare and all." Tayna quipped, suddenly wary of going anywhere else with this stranger. 

"You're perfectly safe with me, Princess of Dreams." Oren assured the girl. 

"And that's another thing. Reading my thoughts? How ungentlemanly." The pink-haired teenager raised an eyebrow, annoyed at this particular ability that she lacked. 

"I apologize, Princess." The pale blonde young man straightened. He offered an arm to her. "Would you deign to accompany me to my palace?" 

"Ah, so it's not _just_ 'Oren'." She took the man's arm in a mockingly graceful gesture. "The plot thickens." _And I hope this isn't another one of my nightmares, if what he says about this city is true._

* * *

Janus paced around the inside of Setsuna's apartment, deep in thought. 

"Oberon, stop-you'll scratch Setsu's lovely wooden floors." Sen managed to joke from her fetal position on the couch. 

Setsuna entered the room with a tray. "Green tea- good for the soul." She said quietly, and handed Sen a mug. The young girl accepted it gratefully and began drinking it down in one gulp. 

"Slowly, slowly, Sen. It won't work unless you take in the soothing aroma." The green-haired woman smiled, and handed Janus a mug as he stalked past. "Janus-" Setsuna glanced down at the short brunette, who had uncurled from her fetal position and was trying her hardest to 'take in the soothing aroma'. "-May I see you in the kitchen?" 

Janus stopped his pacing, and reluctantly followed Setsuna into the other room. Setsuna set the tray down and picked up her own cup of green tea. 

"Janus, there is something you are keeping from me." 

The man could not resist the woman's penetrating gaze. "I- I'm sorry, Princess. I _have_ been keeping something- someone- from you." 

Setsuna tilted her head ever so slightly. 

"I have information on the leader of the enemy that I have not previously disclosed. His name is Oren- he is extremely dangerous, as goes without saying for any of our enemies. I also have reason to believe he has something to do with Tayna's disappearance." 

The woman sipped her tea calmly. "His involvement is obvious. The question is why, and the _how_ has been bothering me. The child clearly fell under the Gate, so that explains his transformation into a youma. But no reports have been made yet of other such occurrences, and why should this particular one send a girl-a very important girl-into another dimension?" It was the most Setsuna had said all evening. 

"I honestly don't know, Princess." Janus slumped down into one of the chairs surrounding the small kitchen table. Setsuna took the other seat and once more sipped her tea. "Oren is…dangerous." He sighed in frustration. "Dammit. I just hope he hasn't found Tayna yet." 

  



	7. Tea, Anyone?

**Chapter Seven - Tea, Anyone?...**

Tayna once again held back a gasp, but this time because of the astonishing speed in which Oren teleported the two to his palace. The room they appeared in was lavishly decorated in plush carpets and florid tapestries. A pale morning light shown on everything, though there were no windows. 

"Please, take a seat. Tea will be served in a moment." Oren gestured to a large chair. He took the opposite as he waited for her to sit. Tayna hesitated. She had just been in Armageddon, and now she was being offered a cup of tea and a very comfortable looking chair by a _very_ cute guy. 

_Oh, to hell with instinct._ Tayna sat in the chair, a sudden feel of awkwardness washing over her as she realized she was still in school clothes. They were trendy back at home, but in this luxurious palace the outfit seemed conspicuously out of place. 

"If you desire a change of clothes, I am sure my staff will be able to procure some for you." Oren smiled. "I know you dislike it when I read your thoughts, but at the look of distress upon your features, I could not resist discovering what trouble you." 

"Curiosity killed the cat." Tayna muttered, inwardly wincing at the blatant use of a cliché. 

"Indeed." Oren stroked his chin. "Tayna, I must ask you something." 

"Since when did we get on a first name basis? I thought you were still stuck on 'princess of dreams' and such." Tayna quipped. 

"Reiterating titles is so bothersome. I prefer to get down to business as soon as possible." "You certainly do." The girl mumbled, remembering with a faint blush the kiss on her hand. 

Oren smiled again. "I admire your sense of humor. But back to my question- what do you plan to do about the recent developments around your Gate? Or shall I say, _my_ Gate?" 

Tayna jumped out of her seat. "_You_? You're the one who stole it, aren't you? Dammit, I'm so dense! Why couldn't I see this before? Who _else_ would be wandering around in my own literal dream world?" Tayna immediately looked around the room for something to bash the smirk spreading across Oren's perfect face with. 

"You will find no weapons in here, Princess of Dreams." Oren made a return to flowery titles. The room around the two dissolved into wall-to-wall, cold stone. 

Tayna resisted the urge to scream curses at the top of her lungs. 

"…except, of course," Oren mused, "yourself. But then you haven't quite perfected transforming, have you?" 

"I don't _need_ a senshi uniform." The pink-haired woman retorted as she swung her fist as hard as she could towards Oren's face.

* * *

Raizel frowned. _This_ was what her master had urgently requested she do? "I am _not_ a frigging babysitter." The red-head floated cross-legged in the air, glaring down at the small whimpering child from the café. His youma transformation had vanished along with Tayna and himself, but he was thrown into Raizel's domain and not the nightmarish world of dreams. 

"I hunt senshi. I am the best warrior to serve Oren, New Master of Karos. I don't do this. I just don't." 

"I'm hungry!" wailed the child. 

"Shut up, you little gremlin." 

The boy sniffed, and curled his knees beneath his chin. 

"Dammit. Where the hell is Oren?" Raizel clenched her fists as she remembered his mentioning something about 'dealing with Tayna'. Tayna. "That little whore." She muttered. "Do _I_ get a staff? _No_. _I_ get a freaking flower to fight people with. And occasionally vines. I totally got shafted when they were handing out superpowers." 

"At least you _have_ powers." 

"Be thankful, oh Lady of the Lush Earth." 

"Gods, not _you_ two." Raizel jumped to the ground, hands on her hips. "Come to help me watch the brat?" The said child backed into a corner. 

A young man and woman grinned back at Raizel. The two were nearly identical, from their golden-blonde hair to their black robes. 

"I was thinking of going toga today, but Jin just wouldn't hear of it." The woman shot a look at her twin. 

"Kin spends way too much time on her appearance. We truly do live in a materialistic society today." The man retorted. 

"Blah blah blah. Now why are you here? I distinctly remember placing wards and 'do not disturb' signs all around my little greenhouse." 

"And such problems were easily solved-"

"-by teleporting in." Jin finished his sister's sentence. 

"Dammit. I need to remember to block _that_ particular mode of transportation from this place, too." Raizel muttered. "Once again. Your reason for gracing me with your presence is…?"

"Oren didn't exactly send us, but we have reason to believe he may need some…help…with the pink haired chick." Jin explained. 

"Oren doesn't need help. Ever." The red-head raised an eyebrow. 

"But he's never dealt with a pissed off Gate Guardian-whose gate Oren now has control of. Not to mention the fact that Karos' sugar high is coming to an end." 

"Coffee withdrawal. It's a sad occurrence among today's teenagers." Jin shook his head in disapproval. 

Raizel ignored the commentary. "So Karos may prove to be a worthy adversary." She smirked. "Worthy, but not superior. Still, this may be interesting to watch." Raizel mused, then turned back to the twins. "I suspect you have front row seats?" 

"Of course." Kin smiled. 

"And you can take the kid along if you want. He seems to have taken a liking to you." Jin gestured to the boy, who had moved from the corner to cower behind Raizel. 

"No, I just think he fears me less than he does you. Not a bad assessment." Raizel allowed herself to flash a grin, then immediately wiped it from her countenance. "Very well. You lead the way-I'm tired of teleporting myself around. Been doing it all week, you know."

* * *

Oren was taken by surprise. The punch, of course, did not make contact, but the act in itself was surprising. In his previous dealings with senshi, they never attacked outside of their warrior forms. 

"Dammit, stand still!" Tayna muttered, clenching her fists. She had tried to punch Oren about three times while he seemed to be lost in his thoughts, but the man had neatly side-stepped every attempt. 

"But then you'd hit me." 

"And that would be the general idea." The girl narrowed her eyes. "You catch on quickly." 

"I do." In a flash of movement, Oren grabbed Tayna's arm and twisted it around her back. 

_Probably should've paid more attention during my self defense class._ Tayna winced inwardly. _And another point goes to the opposition for Tayna's laziness._

"Well _this_ is uncomfortable." Tayna commented, trying fruitlessly to move her right arm. 

"And _that_ would be the general idea." 

"Ripping off my sarcastic commentary. Shame on you." Tayna jammed her left elbow into Oren's exposed gut. "And a point goes to _me_ for the opposition's carelessness." 

"Lucky." Oren jumped backwards, unfazed by the blow. "It shan't happen again." 

Tayna backed into a fighting stance she vaguely remembered from a Jackie Chan movie, but Oren remained straight, arms behind his back. 

"Tayna, I ask you again: what do you plan to do about the Gate? I really do wish to know. I find it fascinating to listen to others' strategy." 

"And I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that _this_ is all I really have planned so far. No, actually, I've planned far enough ahead to see you beaten to a pulp…but then that just may be my overactive imagination kicking in." 

"Indeed." Oren paused. "You know, you would make a lovely addition to my team." "Oh, is _that_ what that is? A team? You sending Raizel out to do your dirty work. Yeah, I see real equality _there_."

"Actually, there are more members than just Raizel. She is simply one of the best." 

"_That's_ your best? Hell, my frigging closet door almost defeated her." 

"This conversation drags on too long. Will you join?" 

Tayna drew back to a normal standing position, and scratched the back of her head. "I can't believe you, Oren. You take over my Gate, and then expect me to _join_ you?" 

"So your answer is…?"

"Hell no!" Tayna yelled. 

"As I suspected." Oren sighed. "Ah well, one can't be blamed for trying." With a careless jerk of his hand, Oren threw an energy blast into a surprised pink-haired young woman. Tayna blacked out as the power crackled around her body, engulfing her in extreme pain…

  
  



End file.
